5 tips for planning the perfect wedding playlist

By Megan JenkinsDecember 11, 2019

There are few things more romantic than choosing your wedding songs with your partner. It's about bringing your very favourite music together with the very nature of your relationship, and choosing the best song to represent your feelings for each other. The processional, the recessional, the kiss—these are huge moments and you want to pick the right song (check out this blog post for our suggestions!).

Then, there's the dance playlist. If you don't want to hire a DJ or band, you'll have to choose the music—all 6 or 7 hours of it. Wow. That's a pretty intimidating number—and the stakes are a little bit high, too. Playing too many songs that are too slow, or otherwise missing the mark, can have a serious impact on your party.

With that in mind, here are our five best tips for planning the perfect wedding reception playlist.

Photo from Pinterest.

Make it collaborative

The best way to share the burden of creating a huge playlist is by collaborating! Obviously, you and your partner should both be involved (make sure both of your favourite music is included!). But extend the invitation to your bridal party, and make a night of it! This will keep your playlist fresh even when you feel like you've already included every song you've ever heard. It also is a great way to extend the wedding celebrations with your girls.

Mix up the genres

6 hours of EDM is best reserved for raves, and the very specific sorts of people that attend them. Make sure you mix up the genres of your playlist to keep things varied and to keep people engaged. We don't mean swinging from classical music to death metal, but don't just stay on hip hop all night, lest your grandmother have a heart attack at the BPM.

Photo from Pinterest.

Stay true to yourself

Our last tip said, don't put anything on your list that you hate just because someone else suggested it, or because the crowd likes it. If you hate Brown Eyed Girl (like! my eyes aren't even brown!), skip it. You want everyone to enjoy the music, but it is your day... Don't sacrifice your own sanity and submit yourself to Blurred Lines. Today is not the day.

Mix up the tempos

There's another reason that 6 hours of EDM is a bad idea. Going that hard, for that long, will have your party burning brightly but briefly. For every five quicker songs, we recommend one or two slow-er songs to give people a moment to recuperate, drink some water, and rest for a minute!

Don't shy away from "classics"

Classics (read: cliches) are classics for a reason. People love to bop and sing along to Sweet Caroline at the end of the night (you know, and the DJ will mute the music at the bah-bah-bah part), and this is probably the spirit you want to encourage with your wedding day. Get the hits from your high school years, grab some bangers from the seventies, eighties, and nineties, throw in some Beach Boys for good measure, and you're probably in a good place.

Listen to the whole thing ahead of time!

Whatever you do, listen to the whole dang playlist before the wedding night. You never know what songs transition into one another terribly, or which music is thematically off base in combination with another song. Make sure there's no significant, extended lulls; make sure you're not exhausted too quickly; make sure you don't burn through the hits too fast.

This can be boiled down to: delegate, and have fun.

How are you building your playlist? Better yet—which songs are you choosing? Let us know below!